Profile
We very much value Conexus’ on-going board level commitment and continued financial and strategic advice. This has been an ideal partnership for us.
Team
G. Robert Marcus, Managing Director
Bob Marcus, a founding partner of Conexus Capital Advisors, has over 30 years of experience as a corporate and tax attorney. He has represented numerous pharmaceutical, medical device and technology-oriented clients, both in the United States and internationally, he has also played a leading role in numerous M&A deals and corporate partnerships - joint ventures, distribution, licensing, and supply arrangements. He has also been involved in developing the structure and organization of numerous start-up, mezzanine, and public financings. Bob has been a very successful private investor and has counseled numerous start-ups and emerging companies.
Bob also serves as the Chairman of the Management Committee and President of the law firm of Norris, McLaughlin & Marcus, P.A. - a 100-lawyer firm with offices in Somerville, NJ and New York City. As head of the firm's mergers and acquisitions practice, Bob has analyzed, structured and negotiated more than 300 separate deals that include venture capital and private equity investments, joint ventures, sales and mergers of companies and public offerings of stock.
Bob holds a B.A. from Upsala College in East Orange, NJ, a J.D. from Dickinson School of Law in Carlisle, PA and a L.L.M. in Taxation from New York University Law School.
Dietmar E. Hirt, Managing Director
Dietmar Hirt, a founding partner at Conexus Capital Advisors, has spent a significant portion of his career in the field of investment banking. Prior to founding Conexus, Dietmar was the founder and managing director of the Acanthus Capital Group, Inc. a New York City based investment banking firm specializing in raising private capital for corporations; and in mergers and acquisitions of middle-market companies.
Dietmar has also worked for Goldman, Sachs & Co. and Salomon Brothers Inc., where he assisted in making private equity investments, raising money from the public market, providing valuation and financial advisory services, rendering fairness opinions, and executing privatizations, acquisitions and mergers of a wide spectrum of companies. His experience includes dealing with companies in a variety of industries including business services, chemicals, financial services, healthcare, manufacturing, software, telecommunications, and transportation.
Dietmar holds the equivalent of an MBA and a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Cologne in Germany with related studies at Harvard University and H.E.C., Paris, France.
A. David Pratilas, Vice President
David joined Conexus in August of 2001. Prior to this he developed and managed communications plans for large pharmaceutical companies at Makovsky & Company. Some of his clients included Warner Lambert (Pfizer), Ortho-McNeil (J&J), Searle (Pharmacia), Zeneca, and Rhone-Poulenc Rorer (Aventis). Areas of concentration included: cardiology, diabetes, anesthesia, ophthalmology, anti-psychotics, pain-management, and e-health.
Before joining Makovsky & Company, David developed and launched an Internet start-up company, which built a regional portal / guide for New York City. He has also worked with Cigna Healthcare where he assisted in establishing their New York provider network in 1996.
Prior to joining Cigna David served as a member of a research team investigating the cellular level synergistic effects of alcohol and anesthetics. He also served on a research team investigating the perioperative effects of the anesthetic Propofol (pre-FDA approval). Research from the study led to FDA approval of Propofol.
David received his BA in anthropology and biology from Drew University and an MBA in finance and marketing from Rutgers University.
Samsam Yung, Vice President
Samsam Yung has over 15 years of financial market experience. Prior to joining Conexus, she was Vice President at Citigroup working mostly in investment banking with complex financial products and derivatives. Samsam was also involved in helping Citigroup streamline and automate its standard risk management processes.
Prior to Citigroup, she held positions at JPMorgan Chase Mortgage, where she focused risk management for the originator's servicing portfolio. Samsam was a night trader in foreign warrants and convertible bonds at Blawkhawk Limited until the firm was acquired by Caxton Associates in 1995. She holds an MS from Carnegie Mellon University in Computational Finance and a B.A. from Brown University. Samsam has also studied at Lyon II University in Lyon, France and lived in HongKong and Tokyo. She is fluent in Japanese, Cantonese, French and English.